AMONG THE FLOWERS WITH REXFORD 



29 



The Marguerite carnation grows in fa- 

 vor with me every year. I used to think 

 1 could not be without a bed of tea roses. 

 Xow I think I must also have a bed of 

 these carnations. They are as fine in 

 nearly every way as the greenhouse va- 

 rieties. If you get young plants in spring 

 instead of seeds you will be able to get 

 flowers from them in July, and thereafter 

 until cold weather you will have an in- 

 creasing supply. On one plant which I 

 potted for winter use I counted over two 

 hundred buds at potting time. Of course, 

 most of these were sacrificed, but they 

 would have developed had I left the plant 

 in the garden. We had carnations on the 

 table all the time after July. We wore 

 them every day in most extravagant fash- 

 ion, and we gave away handfuls of them 

 to our friends, and there were always 

 plenty of them on the plants. But you 

 cannot have good flowers from this strain 

 if you sow the seed in spring. They are 

 too late for that. If you would get early 

 flowers from them you must buy plants 

 from the florist. 



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Another flower that deserves especial 

 mention is the gladiolus. Arthur Cowee, 

 who has the control of the strain known as 

 Groff's hybrids, sent me a box of roots in 

 the spring, and I grew some wonderfully 

 fine flowers from them. They were large 

 as to individual flower, the spikes were 

 enormous in length, and as for coloring — 

 words fail me. They were simply magnifi- 

 cent, wonderful ! In richness of color they 

 were equal to the dahlia, in variety they 

 excelled that old favorite, and they had a 

 delicacy of tint and tone quite character- 

 istic of the orchid family. I wish every 

 one of my readers would grow some of 

 these beautiful flowers next season. Any- 

 one can grow them who will try. All you 

 have to do is to give them a rich and mel- 

 low soil and keep down the weeds about 

 them. ^^0 garden is complete without 

 them. 



* * ❖ 



Among the plants in the greenhouse. 



tuberous begonias and Gloire de Lorraine 

 begonias were most satisfactory, all things 

 considered. The first named begonias- 

 bloomed for several months in succession, 

 and were perhaps more showy than beau- 

 tiful, in the ordinary sense of the word. 



AN AZALEA BUSH 

 Owned=by Mrs. L. H. Faith, Mobile, Alabama. 



Looked at individually, their flowers were 

 not as attractive as many others, but when 

 viewed collectively they always challenged 

 admiration. The great single blossoms 

 were suggestive of butterflies hovering 

 over the plants. Gloire de Lorraine be- 

 gonias bloomed with wonderful profusion, 

 until May. Then I set the plants in the 

 ground, as advised by a correspondent 

 whose letter found place in the "This^ 

 That and the Other'^ department early in 

 the season. There they summered well,, 

 and had begun to grow and bloom when 

 potted in August. They were given a soil 

 of light, spongy character, put in six-inch 

 pots, well drained, and every bud was re- 

 moved as soon as seen during September. 

 This is the first time I have ever succeeded 

 in summering over old plants of this va- 

 riety. I want to thank the correspondent 

 referred to for his kind letter relative to 

 the summer care of this most beautiful 

 plant, whose chief drawback, heretofore, 

 has been the difficulty with which it could 

 be carried over the summer season. Among 

 all our winter bloomers we have nothing 

 that equals it in profusion of blossoms. 



